scrammed a also schrammed, scrammy. Cp EDD scram v3 1 'to benumb; to paralyze' Do So D, 2 adj 'benumbed' W So, hence scrammy D; ADD (Nfld: 1895-); Dict Aust Colloq scrammy 'man with defective ... arm' (1822-).
1 Stiff, benumbed with cold; chilled.
1863 MORETON 34 Schram'd. Cramped, and clammy cold. 1890 HOWLEY MS Reminiscences 50 They could not rest nor light a fire. They were nearly scrammed with cold. 1896 Dial Notes i, 380 'Are you very cold?' 'Yes, I am just scrammed.' (Nfld). [1922] 1960 BURKE (ed White) 14 "Cotton's Patch": If you want to find out you must pay through the nose; / And we scrammed with the cold and our fists nearly froze, / After flying all day over oceans of ice, / If you want information you must pay the price. 1932 BARBOUR 15 When the job was completed and the spanker gaff topsail tied up securely, we slid to the deck, our hands 'scrammed' (benumbed) with the cold. 1953 Nfld & Lab Pilot ii, 390 Persons with this [local] knowledge are usually available at Square Island harbour, Pinsent arm, or Scrammy bay, during the summer months. White Bear arm freezes over about the 25th of December, and the ice breaks up about the 10th of May. T 222-66 And you should certainly wear cuffs—or mittens—otherwise your hands would surely be scrammed, especially if they are nish—or tender. 1975 RUSSELL 87 Grandma is losin' hope that me and her daughter Aunt Sophy'll make a match, and she said one time how some men were so slow blooded 'tis a wonder they didn't get scrammed with the cold in August.
2 Cramped, paralyzed or stiff from disease or injury.
1910 GRENFELL 84, 88 Bill is a strange figure to look at, limping on the left leg, and with the corresponding hand 'scrammed' or partly paralyzed... You sees, he's a bit scrammed just now, and he can't cut up his firewood. P 245-57 A scrammed arm—withered, shrunk.
